


Romeo and Romeo

by KnittyMcKnitFace



Category: Romeo And Juliet - All Media Types, Romeo And Juliet - Shakespeare
Genre: F/M, Gay, High School, Homophobia, M/M, Other, Teenagers, United Kingdom
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-03
Updated: 2021-03-12
Packaged: 2021-03-16 05:15:25
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,275
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29819964
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KnittyMcKnitFace/pseuds/KnittyMcKnitFace
Summary: Romeo and Juliet but a gay relationship between Romeo Montague, and another Romeo - Romeo Capulet. I've bent some of the character arcs and relationships - for example, I've made Tybalt a Montague so he can have a relationship with Juliet (still a Capulet) without some weird incest thing going on. The Montague and Capulet families also get on well and it is set in the modern day, in the UK. I'm using British English.The main characters are 15/16 years old and doing their GCSEs (at the start anyway). Not marked "underage" as whilst this will happen at some point, it won't be before they're sixteen, which is the British age of consent.Marked Mature for swearing. I might end up rating it explicit for sex, but not yet. Trigger warnings are provided with chapters where necessary.
Relationships: Juliet Capulet/Tybalt Montague, Romeo Montague/Romeo Capulet
Comments: 2
Kudos: 1





	1. Prologue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the prologue, and honestly all I've done so far. I'll be posting more when it's written, hopefully soon. This is based on the actual R+J prologue, in 14 lines of (hopefully) iambic pentameter. Obviously it does contain some spoilers for later on; that is rather the point of a prologue.

#### Prologue:

Two households, both alike in dignity,  
In a fair city, where we lay our scene,  
Both against homosexuality,  
Have two sons, who, no matter what’s between  
Will be together, as they are in love  
But neither knows it yet. They are both gay  
And closeted. They feel like a caged dove-  
Knowing they are great, but they cannot say  
On account of their parents’ bigotry,  
Which means they have this strife within themselves.  
They have known each other since they were three,  
And their parents exchanged a set of shelves.  
This friendship bloomed, and maybe soon love too  
For Romeo Capulet and Montague.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So those 140 syllables are all I have for you just now. I'll be posting at least the first section of Act 1 Scene 1 in the next couple of weeks, depending on schoolwork. I have a rough idea of how the story is going to pan out, but no other actual written work yet.


	2. Act 1, Scene 1

“Gregory, on my word, we’ll not carry coals.”

“No, for then we should be colliers.”

“I mean, if we be in choler, then we’ll draw.”

“Ay, while you live, draw your neck out of collar.”

Romeo was confused. Like what was Shakespeare actually on about? Their English teacher had told them that “the best way to learn Shakespeare is to read Shakespeare” and this was an essential part of their Literature course. So they had jumped straight in, no context, no pre-explanation of the plot aside from the prologue, and swiftly moved on to Act 1, Scene 1. But this made no sense. Apparently it was meant to be humorous, but Romeo didn’t get it. At least presumably none of the rest of the class could understand either, and he was reading it with his best friend, but it wasn’t a good feeling. This would be a fifth of his grade. He just hoped it would get better.

They went on, Romeo and Romeo, reading out the lines that they had been assigned by their teacher. As some kind of witty joke, Ms Bryant had decided that the two Romeos would be reading the first two characters. That was fine with them really. They got on well, like best friends well, and they figured that reading now might excuse them for a few lessons. On they went, absentmindedly reading but not understanding.

“My naked weapon is out: quarrel; I will back thee.” And there it was: Romeo Montague had picked up the first bawdy line. A titter dissipated through the room. A slight pause before Romeo Capulet continued with the next line. A slight pause that lengthened into an awkward gap.

“Romeo Capulet!” Ms Bryant brought his mind back to Earth. 

“Yes, sorry. Right, where was I… ‘How? Turn thy back and run?’.” He pretended to have been checking a footnote for a deeper explanation of the meaning behind the text. That couldn’t be further from the truth. He’d briefly imagined what he’d do if Romeo had his naked weapon out in front of him. But no. He must stop; he must shake these thoughts from his head. He couldn’t let a silly crush like that ruin their deep friendship. “Never crush on a straight guy” had been rule number one, ever since he had begun to question his sexuality two years ago. Jesus. Two years he’d been hiding that thought, that question that had become a truth. 

Because Romeo Capulet was gay, and nobody knew it. Who was there to tell? He couldn’t tell his parents - they’d never explicitly mentioned being against homosexuality, but it was just a vibe that he got. The way they automatically hated every gay Bake Off contestant. The way they tutted at every news presenter who had exhibited something other than straightness. The way they turned off the television whenever there was an HIV relief advert. The looks they gave each other, the raised eyebrows, the rolled eyes, when they walked through town the day after the Pride parade. No. Romeo would not tell his parents until after he had moved out, until his parents could no longer affect his life. 

He couldn’t tell his friends either. He was only close enough to Romeo Montague for a conversation like that, and he couldn’t be sure that he wouldn’t be homophobic. From what he’d gathered from being at Romeo’s house, his parents took a similar attitude to gay people. And he couldn’t face telling a straight lad as the first person he came out to. He just couldn’t make everything so awkward like that. There was Benvolio and Mercutio as well, people he liked, he got on with, but he wasn't as close to them as he was to Romeo, and he definitely couldn't trust them to keep a secret as important as this.

Then there was his older sister. Juliet. What would she think? She wasn’t gay - she had a boyfriend, Romeo’s brother Tybalt - and she might very well share their parents’ attitude. She might not, but it was not worth the risk. Three more years, and then he would be at university, studying God knows what, and then he would be able to be himself. That was the light at the end of the tunnel that he just had to reach towards.

Obviously there were people through school he could talk to. Not a teacher, as he knew they had a legal obligation to inform the parents if they thought a child was in danger, and he didn’t know what counted as in danger, but there was the school health nurse. Maybe he could talk to her. But to what end? That didn’t seem to him to be a course of action that would lead anywhere helpful.

And then there was Rosaline. She had come out as a lesbian last year. This was twenty first century Britain, so there were basically no problems for her in terms of bullying. But she must have parents who didn’t care. Or maybe she just didn’t talk to her parents. He didn’t know her well enough to know either way. However, they had grown closer over the last year, and not just because she was gay. They shared a number of lessons, English, French, German - they were the only two in the year doing both languages - and they had good banter together. He could come out to her, probably safe in the knowledge that she wouldn’t tell anyone. Probably. Not yet then. He didn’t want his trust to backfire. His worst nightmare would be everyone knowing about him being gay, and his parents finding out. His relationship with them was strained enough as it is without anything else getting in the way.

“Right. That’s all for today. We’ll pick up from the end of Prince Escalus’s speech tomorrow.” For the second time that lesson, Ms Bryant brought Romeo Capulet’s mind back down to Earth. The time had just… gone. He wasn’t sure where. He looked down at his book - he’d made notes so he must have been listening. But he hadn’t remembered a word of what had been said. Contemplating his thoughts had taken the last half hour of the lesson. More revision to do tonight then that was. Brilliant. He couldn’t let himself fall further behind in Lit, not after the mocks last year. He’d got a six, but only one mark off a seven, on the scale where nine was the best. Literally every other subject had been an eight or a nine, but his parents had chosen to focus on the rubbish bit.

“Are you alright? You just seemed a bit distant in English today.” Romeo Montague had caught up with him on his way out. He was looking as lovely as ever. The way his hair sat perfectly on his forehead, static and yet moving, slightly ruffled and yet perfectly positioned. Focus, Capulet! Act like a human, follow through on a conversation. Romeo asked you something. Answer him.

“Er what… no, no, I’m fine. Just contemplating something, that’s all.” 

“Alright.” He’d got away with it then, that slight pause. Romeo shot him an odd look. Maybe he hadn’t got away with it. “Anyway, I was thinking about that thing in physics…” It was fine after all. He tried to focus on the conversation they were having. Fleming’s left hand rule. He could think about that, and ignore the feeling in his stomach he’d had around Romeo recently. Just get to the end of the day and carry on contemplating later this evening. He could do that. Lunch, one more lesson, the walk home, and then he’d be back in his own space, where he could be himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to the six people who had read the prologue when I posted this, and sorry that the summary on that was longer than the work itself. 
> 
> I've realised it's very odd that all the characters have the same names as people from the play that they are studying, but my plan is just to gloss over this and ignore it. The Romeo Capulet/Romeo Montague situation could also be confusing, so when I refer to them I'll make sure I'm specific about which person I mean. This might make it a bit clunky but at least you'll understand!
> 
> There are some references to British institutions eg exams, year groups, grades, subjects etc but these shouldn't get in the way of the plot. I'll explain anything that crops up as long as it doesn't interfere with the writing, but feel free to leave a comment if you need more explanation.
> 
> I won't be able to post this regularly, but I have more of an idea of where I'm going with this now. I'm really not sure how much I'll actually write in iambic pentameter. The story will also take place over a much longer timespan than the five (?) days of Romeo and Juliet. I'm thinking currently at least a year, but it will move much more quickly in the first section of it. Not sure how long I'll skip between this and Scene 2.
> 
> More detailed time context: if this is September/October of 2018, I'm thinking I'll be at July 2019 by the end of Act 1. Then it'll go more slowly. It's not actually set in 2018 or whenever, that's just to give an idea of the timeframe. I'll make this clearer in the writing itself.


	3. Act 1, Scene 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, I said the timeline would move fairly quickly at the start, but turns out it doesn't. The next gap will take us from where we are now, the start of October, to some point in February.
> 
> Oh, and, there's swearing in this one (I couldn't make the dialogue right without it) so be warned!

“Have you seen Romeo?”

“He’s talking to me right now.”

“Ha ha. Hilarious. No seriously, I’ve not seen him all lunch, and I’m a bit worried I guess.”

“Well, you should be the one to know where your boyfriend is. Not a clue from me, sorry.”

“Fuck off. And never mind.”

God. Benvolio knew how to get right on Romeo Montague’s nerves. He was honestly a bit worried about Romeo Capulet. Something had clearly got him earlier, and he was in some kind of a funny mood. He’d maintained an intelligent conversation about Fleming’s left hand rule, but after that he had disappeared completely. Ah well. He’d turn up again. Twelve years of friendship had taught Romeo that the thing to do when Romeo Capulet was in a funny mood was just to let it pass, and not give him the third degree.

But the final remark from Benvolio had really hit home. Romeo had to pinch himself and remember that there was no way that Benvolio could have figured it out. Or Mercutio, or Petruchio, or any of the others. He surely wasn’t that obvious. Surely not.

Because Romeo Montague was gay, and nobody knew it. He’d figured this out a couple of years ago. I mean sure, he had his moments of doubting - maybe he was just making it up for attention - but he was pretty certain. He liked men. He wanted to have sex with a man. That was all. And that would make people hate him all the way through his life. He knew it would probably ruin his relationship with his parents. Maybe even his friendship with Romeo Capulet. His parents seemed just as bad as his own, so there was no guarantee that Romeo wouldn't be homophobic as well. 

But that was the other thing. Being gay he could deal with, he could hide until he left school and was in a safe environment. But the thing he was worried would give him away was his crush on Romeo. Why did he have to find his best friend so sexy? That was his problem. Romeo Capulet could probably get over Romeo Montague being gay, but being sexually attracted to him was something he wouldn’t be able to get over. If that got out, he would never be able to live with himself, and his life would be permanently changed. That was why he had to make sure he played the straight lad at school, and why Benvolio’s comment hit him hard. He went back to eating, sat on that wall next to the picnic benches, laughing at something on his phone or a joke with his mates. Act straight. Easy. He’d been doing that his whole life.

Meanwhile inside, Romeo Capulet was talking to Rosaline. In French. Hang on no, that was a German word. And then a bit of English just then? To an eavesdropper who didn’t know the pair, this would seem really odd, but Rosaline’s friends were used to it. This mix of German, French and English was how she communicated with Romeo Capulet. It ensured that no-one could understand their conversation, even if they caught little snippets of it. And it was a good way for them both to practice their languages, and differentiate the two. Both of them had had moments in the past where they had said a French word in a German lesson or a German word in a French lesson, and this helped them pick them apart, in some reverse psychology way.

Romeo Capulet had come to talk with Rosaline as he just couldn’t face having lunch with Romeo Montague, and having to stop himself staring at his face for the whole half hour. Seeing her be out with her friends as well gave him hope for a future where Romeo, Mercutio, Benvolio and the rest all knew that he was gay and didn’t care. That seemed like a distant future, and probably one where they barely knew each other any more. After university or something, and the news was just “oh, him, he was gay, was he? That’s nice.” But still, it was nice to see Rosaline’s female friends act around her without making any kind of fuss of her sexuality. 

The other reason he’d sat with them was that he just wanted more friends. He wanted friends he could be fairly sure would not reject him if they found out he was gay. He knew that Romeo Montague’s parents were just as homophobic as his, and, whilst he couldn’t say the same of Benvolio and Mercutio, as he didn’t know their parents well enough, there was always that risk. Socially, he reckoned he’d get away with sitting here a couple of times a week, and just sort of gradually becoming friendlier with Rosaline and her friends. He didn’t want to alienate his other friends, the ones he’d had since primary school, but it would be nice to have some other people in his life.

Making his excuses, he got up and left the table. He ought to see Romeo Montague before the end of lunch - he didn’t want him to think that something was wrong. He pushed through the crowds of people in the common room and went outside. But Romeo wasn’t there.

“Have you seen Romeo?”

“He’s talking to me right now.”

“Hear my genuine laughter -” Romeo Capulet paused “- oh wait, there isn’t any. Forget I asked.” Benvolio was clearly in a joking mood, which Romeo did not have time for. Never mind. He’d be able to speak to Romeo later, after school, when they were walking home. Not that he had anything in particular to say, he just wanted to make sure that Romeo knew that he was fine.

“Hello? Earth to Romeo Capulet. I repeat - Earth to Romeo Capulet.”

“What? Sorry, were you saying something?”

“God, Romeo was right. You are a bit distracted today.”

“What do you mean? What’s he said?”

“Well, I just told you that Romeo has gone, presumably to look for you, and you didn’t reply; and he was asking where you were earlier, saying he was a bit worried.”

Shit. Romeo had noticed then. “Ah well, it’s just… the mental satellite being a bit slow today. I’ve just been thinking about… English, how I don’t get Romeo and Juliet at all.” A convincing lie? He hoped it was.

“The what now? The ‘Mental Satellite’? Yeah, that’s totally a thing. Well, at least you’re alright. He’ll probably be back in a minute anyway.”

“Ah ok, well, I need to go to the loo anyway, so I’ll see you later.”

“Alright. I’ll let Romeo know I’ve seen you if he gets back. See you later.”

Romeo Capulet left, walking past the other benches and taking the steps up the outside of the common room. He swung around the corner, through the maths department - ah, the holy sanctuary! - and went into the boys’ toilets. When he left, there were only a couple of minutes of lunch remaining, so he didn’t bother going back down to the benches. Instead, he looked out the wall height windows down onto the benches and started to think. From here, he could see Benvolio and Mercutio, but he knew that they couldn’t see him, as the windows were one way only, and acted like mirrors from below. And then Romeo Montague appeared, looking as handsome as ever. Romeo Capulet’s eyes were glued to his face as he approached the bench and sat down. God he was beautiful. Romeo stood there for a while, wrapped in his thoughts. It was only half a minute but it felt like an age.

“Hey. You alright?”

Romeo spun around. It was Cleo, a friend of his. They weren’t particularly close but she’d been put next to him in form this year, and they’d got to know each other better. 

“I’m alright yeah, how’re you? I was just about to head up to form.”

“Same. I’m good, yeah, been a busy day though.” And so the conversation continued.

Straight face on, straight brain in gear, Romeo Capulet walked with Cleo up to their form room. Act straight, Romeo. Don’t let anyone figure it out. That’s all you have to do.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So from what I've gathered from films and books, the closest American equivalent of "form" would be "homeroom". I might be wrong on this. What I mean by "form" is where students are registered at the start of the day and after lunch, and where general notices are given. The people in one's form aren't the same as the people in one's lessons.
> 
> Sorry for the gap between chapters. It will be a similar gap again before the next chapter (probably) so apologies in advance.


	4. Act 1, Scene 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This one does jump forwards to February, but mentions events at Christmas to keep up with what's happening in their lives without a load of boring chapters in the middle.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter has verbal homophobia and mentions abortion if anyone is worried about that.
> 
> Not sure if I needed to tell you but best to err on the side of caution.

“Could the last person to leave please turn the light off? Thank you.”

Mr Laurence had surprised them today with the news that the RE class would be having a talk from a guest speaker. As part of their topic on Christian beliefs they would have a panel discussion with some Christians from an organisation. They would put questions to the speakers and the speakers would answer them. Romeo Capulet was not convinced, but it was a way to avoid a full lesson, so it couldn’t be too bad he thought, as he turned the light off and shut the door.

The class made their way through the corridors and down the stairs to the main assembly hall, where other groups were already seated. They were handed a piece of paper each and told to write down a question that they wanted to ask, and then hand it up to the front. Romeo didn’t have anything in particular that he wanted to know, so he just wrote down some generalised fluff about the climate crisis and stewardship before passing his slip of paper forwards.

A couple of minutes passed while the speakers were sorting through the questions, and then they selected some and began to answer. Some idiot had asked “Do you like pasta?” and it turned out that yes, the speaker who answered that question did like pasta. And it turned out that, inevitably yes, we are God’s creatures, put on this Earth by God to look after it, so we should do what we can about climate change. 

Whatever. Romeo Capulet did not really care. He was an atheist and happily so. He knew the stuff he had to know for his RE exam so he let himself zone out and ignore what was happening. But then he started to listen again.

“And here we have a few questions asking about what we think about gay people and the LGBT community. Well I would say, I have a few friends who are gay, and that’s fine, I completely accept that. But it is my belief that being gay isn’t what God wants for us. If people choose to do that, then sure, fine, that’s your choice, but I wouldn’t choose that for myself and I don’t think it’s the right thing for people to do. It isn’t God’s path.”

Fucking hell. Jesus. Did she really just say that? Fuck. That’s appalling. School has let these speakers come in and say that. Bloody hell. He shifted uncomfortably in his seat. Looking to the right, he could see that Rosaline looked pretty angry at that as well. It was unacceptable for someone to say that to a group of fifteen and sixteen year olds. As if it were fact. He’d have to speak to Rosaline afterwards about it. Not why he was angry, not specifically why anyway, but that he thought it was completely wrong. And then his gaze fell on Romeo Montague who was two seats away from him. He was looking pretty nonchalant about the whole thing. All the more reason for Romeo Capulet to hide his feelings.

Ah shit. He composed himself, hoping that no-one had noticed his presumably obvious discomfort. Bringing his mind back to the room, he tried to refocus on the talk. It seemed that they had moved on to abortion. Only that one speaker had presented her views on homosexuality, which had turned the talk from a neutral and potentially helpful but ultimately forgettable revision session, to something that Romeo doubted he would ever forget.

“Really, when it comes down to it, abortion is murder. Fundamentally, abortion is clearly the removal of human life, which is murder, which is wrong, so abortion is always wrong.”

How dare they. Whatever one thought about abortion, this was also clearly massively inappropriate. They shouldn’t have been allowed to come in and tell a room full of young people, some of whom would inevitably have unplanned pregnancies, that abortion was wrong, with no case made for the other side, and with this presented as fact. Romeo was outraged. This issue, on abortion, would be something where he could make his strong opinion more known without running the risk of outing himself.

The question on abortion was fortunately the last question. A half hearted applause was given to the speakers - “we’d like to thank you for giving up their time to talk to us today” - no, Mr Laurence, we really don’t - and the students were dismissed to break. 

“God, that was horrific!” Romeo had gone to see Rosaline straight away, and just needed to get that off his chest.

“I know, right? I can’t believe that they were even allowed to come in and do that. I wish I’d walked out to make a statement now, but it’s too late for that.”

“I’m honestly tempted to complain. It’s simply unacceptable that they were allowed in.”

“Yeah, but complain to whom? It’s not like Mr Laurence is particularly going to listen to us, and what good will it do? We’ve sat through it now, and we can’t undo that.”

“I don’t know. Maybe we could make it not happen next year. That would be something.” They’d left the hall at this point and were walking aimlessly through the school. Then Romeo was struck with an idea. “Maybe we could speak to my form tutor. She’s an RE teacher but not a Christian, and she knows I wouldn’t make a fuss over nothing, so maybe she’ll know what to do if there is anything we can do.”

“Alright. That’s fair enough I suppose. Hopefully she’ll be in her classroom.”

They went up to the RE department and went into the classroom. Miss Helena, Romeo’s form tutor, was there.

“Hi Romeo. Are you alright?”

“Yeah, well, I mean…” and the two of them explained what had happened in the talk. She listened, and explained that whilst there was obviously nothing she could do now, she would bring it up with the head of department and they could express their views somehow as well if they wanted.

“Well that was… predictably unsatisfactory but also helpful in a way,” remarked Rosaline as she and Romeo Capulet returned to their friends. “We’ll have to have more of a reflection on what she said and see what to do. I’m tempted to write a letter to the head, just to express my annoyance if nothing else.”

“Yeah, that’s fair enough. It would be good practice for English as well! See you later.”

“See you.”

They went their separate ways, Romeo to his physics lesson and Rosaline to her geography class. Romeo tried to focus as best as he could, but everyone seemed rather distracted after the talk they had had. Romeo Montague seemed to be talking about how horrible it was that they had been allowed into school. That gave Romeo Capulet hope - maybe his best friend wasn’t homophobic after all. He’d have to do some digging at lunch to see what he said.

The next lesson was English Literature and a continuation of character analysis of An Inspector Calls. They’d finished reading Romeo and Juliet and it had made much more sense to Romeo. To his surprise, in the mock exam they did in December, he managed to get a grade eight. That had been a nice way to end before Christmas, and even his parents had not managed to find something negative to say about it. He’d begun to like English Literature more as he was nearing the end of the course. It was odd for him to think that, but he realised he might actually miss English. Around January they’d put in their A Level options. He’d tried to get Maths, Further Maths, Physics and German, but Physics and German clashed so he replaced German with Chemistry. That was a shame, but he’d be able to carry on with German outside school.

At lunch, the talk was still fresh in everyone’s minds, but the four of them were awkwardly silent, not sure what it would be acceptable to say, or what anyone else was thinking. Romeo Capulet broke the ice by saying how awful it must have been for any gay people sitting through that. Obviously he gave nothing away about himself.

“I think it’s genuinely disgusting the way that school let them come in and do a talk like that. Especially given that it was compulsory. I think it would have been alright if it was optional, and then people could choose to hear that, and if we’d had some sort of prior warning, but that was just unacceptable.” Romeo Montague surprised them all with this outburst. It wasn’t like him to give a strong opinion; out of the four of them Mercutio was usually the more political and opinionated. But this let Romeo Capulet breathe an internal sigh of relief. Romeo Montague was not homophobic. Almost certainly straight, but not homophobic. That was something.

“I think as well it’s just given us the wrong opinion of Christians as well. Like obviously we’ve been taught that most Christians aren’t homophobic, and that’s probably true, especially in the Church of England, but if we knew nothing about Christianity at all then we’d have left that session with the impression that all Christians are homophobic and bigoted, and that’s just the wrong impression really.” It was Benvolio’s turn to surprise them with an out-of-character expression of an opinion. 

“When I went to see her earlier, Miss Helena described them as from a charismatic denomination or something like that I think, and I’ve seen the same group around school doing evangelical stuff.”

“You’ve been to see your form tutor about it already?” Romeo Montague shot the other Romeo an odd look.

“Yeah, well, I was pretty angry afterwards and I went to see her with Rosaline at break.”

“Ah right. What did she say?”

“Just that obviously there was nothing she could do now, but we could talk to the head or the head of RE if we wanted.”

“So basically nothing then. What are you gonna do now?”

“I dunno. Rosaline was saying she might write a letter or something, but I’m not sure what that would actually do.”

“That’s fair enough. What’s Rosaline like? You’ve got closer to her recently.”

Romeo Montague wasn’t wrong - Romeo had been spending more time with her recently. They went to the cinema together at Christmas and they’d been chatting more in school. They’d also been texting more regularly, usually in their French/German hybrid. He sincerely hoped that Romeo was not implying that they were a couple. “You do realise she’s a lesbian right? But she’s nice, yeah we have quite a lot in common really.”

“Believe it or not Romeo I haven’t been living under a rock for the past year. I do know that she is a lesbian. That’s fair enough though about you two.”

That was the end of that conversation. They continued to chat for the rest of the lunch break, but not about the talk. Both Romeo Capulet and Romeo Montague understandably felt awkward about it, although they obviously didn’t discuss that with each other or with Mercutio and Benvolio.

Romeo got in touch with Rosaline that evening.

_Are you gonna write a letter or something about that talk then_

_Not sure yet tbh_  
_Maybe but it does seem a bit pointless ngl_

_I mean that’s fair enough_  
_I might do smth maybe, idk what tho_

_Fairs_

Such was the extent of their conversation that evening. Romeo didn’t know what to say to make it not awkward but still get his feelings across. He really thought that a complaint needed to be made but how he should go about that he didn’t know. A letter would work, but he didn’t want to be the one to write it. Since his other friends had expressed their anger at the talk, he felt more confident in expressing his thoughts as well, but equally he didn’t want to be excessive and raise questions among the others about his sexuality.

Fortunately that decision ended up being made for him. The next day at school, Rosaline left no-one in any uncertain terms about how angry she was (“bloody pissed off” were the words she used) and how she was going to write a letter to the headmaster. She’d already started writing this apparently, but it wasn’t until break time that she approached Romeo about it.

“So I was thinking… I’m writing this letter, I’ve started already, but I wondered if you wanted to look over it with me, maybe sign it with me, turn it into more of an open letter, with us as the main signatories as it were? Just cause you seemed pretty annoyed as well yesterday.”

Oh God. Romeo couldn’t do that. That was too risky for him. Equally, this was something important. But what was more important to Romeo - keeping his sexuality a secret or standing up to an injustice? 

“I can’t do that. Sorry. I just… can’t.”

Rosaline looked hurt, but unsurprised. “Alright then. That’s ok. I’ll write it myself and send it off some point this week. I’ll make a few copies for people to read probably.”

“I’m honestly really sorry. One day you’ll know why, but I can’t do that right now, with where I am with myself.” Romeo mentally hit himself as soon as he had said that. He’d pretty much just outed himself.

“Oh, ok. Right.” Rosaline looked more confused than hurt now, but said nothing more. It wasn’t really her place to ask what Romeo meant by that. He clearly looked relieved that she hadn’t pushed for more of an explanation.

Rosaline wrote a very eloquent letter which she distributed widely for others to read before she sent it to the headteacher. A few days later, after what sounded like a very awkward meeting with the headteacher and the head of RE, the outcome was that in future every member of the group would address every question, and more emphasis would be placed on these being opinions, and not representative of the views of all Christians. This felt like only a small victory - the ideal would have been for the group to be banned from giving compulsory talks in schools - but everyone knew that this was unlikely.

School went on as before, with preparation for GCSEs. Pretty much every subject had got to the end of the curriculum, and revision for May’s exams began in earnest. Three months out, they seemed to be in the distant future, but the time since November had flown by, so everyone was very conscious that there was not long left.

Romeo Capulet was very glad the whole saga had blown over. Revision meant that discussions at lunch stayed very much within the safe limits of Fleming’s left hand law, and not the awkwardness of homosexuality. He felt a bit better now he knew that Romeo Montague was not homophobic, but his mantra remained “if you ever feel like revealing your sexuality, stop yourself, talk about maths”.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> British things that I referred to:
> 
> The head/headmaster/headteacher is the principal of the school.  
> GCSEs are exams taken in eight to eleven subjects at age sixteen. Everyone takes them, and Maths, English and a science are compulsory. Grades (the marks/scores) run from nine (highest) to one (lowest).  
> RE is Religious Education and it is common for schools to require pupils to do it at GCSE.  
> A Levels are the final qualifications taken by slightly over half of pupils at age eighteen. People do three or four and they decide where you can go to university and what you can study. Grades run from A* (highest) to E (lowest).
> 
> And yes, I am really unimaginative with names, to the extent that if I were to make up names I would send up doing a mashup of two surnames and end up with something stupid, so pretty much all the names (with the exception of Ms Bryant, whose name was a rare flash of inspiration) will be drawn from Shakespeare.
> 
> Please let me know if there is anything you are confused about/really like/would like to be improved in the comments! (Equally don't if you don't want to; I don't want to sound pushy)


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